kids encyclopedia robot

Rock Circus facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Madame Tussaud's Rock Circus was a cool museum in London that celebrated the history of rock and pop music. It was open from August 1989 to September 2001. Inside, you could see lifelike wax figures of famous musicians. The museum was located in the top four floors of the London Pavilion building in Piccadilly Circus. It mostly featured British artists, but many American stars were there too. The Rock Circus told the story of rock and pop music from the 1950s up to the time it was open, using videos, music, stories, and moving robot figures called animatronics.

How Rock Circus Started

London-pavilion-facade
The London Pavilion, where the Rock Circus used to be.

In the mid-1980s, the Tussauds Group, which also runs Madame Tussauds, wanted to create a new attraction in London. They found that people were really interested in a music-themed museum.

To decide which music stars should be featured, the general manager, Martin King, the head of Tussauds Studios, Ian Hanson, and famous radio DJ and music writer Paul Gambaccini worked together. The Rock Circus officially opened in 1989 with a special event hosted by Jason Donovan. It closed its doors for good in September 2001.

The museum was built inside the newly updated London Pavilion building. It had wax figures, just like the main Madame Tussauds museum, plus a special show with moving animatronic figures. These animatronic figures were very detailed and could take up to a year to create. Some of the more complex ones cost a lot of money, up to $170,000 each!

Exploring the Music Exhibition

When you walked through the Rock Circus, you wore special headphones. These headphones used a technology called infra-red to play music and stories about whatever exhibit you were looking at. It was like having your own personal tour guide!

A big part of the museum was a "live" show performed by very realistic animatronic figures. This show took you through the history of rock music from the 1950s to the present day. The audience sat in a special room that rotated, so you could see different stages and performances.

Many of the famous musicians featured in the exhibition actually donated their own clothes for their wax figures! For example, Paul Simon sent a guitar and a pair of jeans, and Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits gave a pair of his boots and a shirt. Other artists like Eric Clapton and Phil Collins also contributed items.

As you walked through the first floor, your headphones would automatically play audio about the performers. Paul Gambaccini narrated these short descriptions, which usually lasted only a few minutes and included clips of the artists' music. You could even take pictures with some of the wax figures!

The main open area had a rotating stage. Here, you could see figures of Elton John playing "Bennie and the Jets," Little Richard singing "Tutti Frutti," and Stevie Wonder with "I Just Called to Say I Love You." Every few minutes, a figure of Elvis Presley would rise up from between the pianos to sing "Glory Hallelujah" before going back down.

The other floors continued the musical journey. You would move between them using escalators and lifts. Some of the cool scenes you could see included:

  • A huge video display made of 36 monitors linked together to create one giant screen.
  • Sections about famous music events like the Live Aid concert and the Woodstock music festival.
  • A special "VIP" area with Elvis Presley and Bono.
  • A hallway filled with music memorabilia.
  • A scene showing a 1960s London street, featuring Tina Turner.
  • The Beatles in a recreation of their famous The Cavern Club stage.
  • Boy George, sitting on top of a bin near the entrance.
  • The "Wall of Hands," which was a collection of handprint casts from various rock musicians, similar to those at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
  • Buddy Holly in a radio studio scene, with rare audio from an interview.
  • Jerry Lee Lewis playing a piano that had a lid that opened and closed, with cool smoke effects while his song "Great Balls of Fire" played.
  • Sting in a recording studio setup.
  • The Who, shown with a giant pinball machine. Roger Daltrey stood on top of the glass, and Pete Townshend looked like he was jumping out of the machine's back. Music from Elton John's version of "Pinball Wizard" played.

The escalator leading to the very top floor was inside a clear tunnel with neon lights. It had a sign that said "Stairway to Heaven," a nod to the famous Led Zeppelin song. At the top, you could watch music videos on screens while waiting for the final show.

Before the main theatre show, there was a wax figure of a regular person sitting in the audience, watching a screen. This was a fun trick that Madame Tussauds often used to surprise visitors!

The Grand Finale: Animatronic Show

The revolving theatre show was the last part of the Rock Circus experience. It featured many animatronic performers and used advanced technology for the time. For example, over 200 computer signals were used to make Bruce Springsteen's arm lift into his famous raised fist during "Born in the U.S.A."

Visitors sat on two rows of seats that were secretly on a turntable. Once the theatre was full, the doors closed, and the show began. Different animatronic performers would play their parts, with narration and dialogue provided by an animatronic Tim Rice, who was seen sitting in a swivel chair.

About halfway through the show, the entire seating area would rotate to face a second stage with more animatronic performers. The music that played during the rotation was the opening piano part of Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets".

The show lasted about 10 minutes. It started with The Beatles in their Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band costumes, performing a part of their title song. It also included video, audio, and animatronic versions of other music stars, such as:

  • Janis Joplin, who started seated on a park bench, then stood up to sing "Me and Bobby McGee."
  • Madonna, lying on a bed surrounded by silk curtains, performing "Like A Virgin." A green-eyed animatronic leopard was at the foot of the bed and would roar.
  • Bruce Springsteen, performing "Born in the USA" on a stadium-like stage with smoke effects.
  • Elvis Presley, singing "Love Me Tender".
  • Bob Dylan performing "The Times They Are a-Changin'" with his guitar and harmonica.
  • David Bowie, as his character Major Tom in a spacesuit, performing "Space Oddity". He would spin around, just like in the music video.
  • Phil Collins, seated at a drum kit, playing along to "In the Air Tonight".
  • KISS, with Gene Simmons' animatronic having a moving tongue.
  • Sid Vicious.
  • The Eurythmics, with a depiction of Annie Lennox's head that "split" open to reveal Dave Stewart's head, while "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" played.
  • The Rolling Stones, represented by giant inflatable lips surrounding a TV screen playing their video highlights, with " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" playing.

The show ended just as it began, with The Beatles again in their Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band costumes, performing a part of their title song.

After the show, visitors left the theatre and went down a spiral staircase decorated with music photos. This led to a small gift shop where you could buy Rock Circus souvenirs and any photos taken earlier. From there, another staircase led back to the headphone drop-off point, and then you exited back into the London Pavilion building.

Famous Artists at Rock Circus

Many famous artists were featured at Madame Tussaud's Rock Circus, either as wax figures, in videos, or as part of other exhibits. Some of them included:

To celebrate the opening, statues of rock legends were placed around the outside of the London Pavilion building. These included Annie Lennox, Buddy Holly, David Bowie, Diana Ross, Elton John, Jimi Hendrix, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Mick Jagger.

Why Rock Circus Closed

Even though the Rock Circus had an update a few years before, it didn't make as much money as expected. In its best year, 1993, it attracted 682,000 visitors. However, visitor numbers slowly went down. The Tussauds Group said that London became an expensive place for young European tourists, who were a big part of their audience.

The Rock Circus closed permanently in September 2001. Over its lifetime, it had welcomed about 6 million visitors. The space it used was later taken over by the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum. Many of the wax figures from the Rock Circus were moved to the main Madame Tussauds exhibition.

See also

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Rock Circus Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.